


Take You There

by lucian



Category: Penguins of Madagascar
Genre: Boys Kissing, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, human!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 12:19:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18691384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucian/pseuds/lucian
Summary: Private's only slightly nervous when Rico cracks open the door to the basement.





	Take You There

Private is reaching up to turn off his lamp when he hears the faint rasp of his doorknob turning.

It can't be an intruder, not with the multiple levels of security Kowalski has installed, but everyone else has been asleep for an hour. Private's heart is racing, but that's why Skipper runs stress drills as often as he does: _racing heart; steady hand_.

Rico slips into the room soundlessly and grins at the gun aimed at him. Private lets out the breath he's been holding, shoots Rico a dirty look, flips the safety back on, and puts the gun back in the holster he keeps between his bed and the wall. 

"What are you laughing at?" Private hisses, pissy from the adrenaline dump.

" 'ot you," Rico rasps, shaking his head. "Come wi' me!"

"It's bedtime!" Private whispers, even though Skipper hasn't enforced Lights Out in a while. (A month of hard training from dawn to midnight got them into bed on time every night without fail, and no one wants to do that again.)

Rico rolls his eyes because the rules only _mostly_ apply to him. "Oh, c'mon!"

Skipper's going to hear them if he argues any more, so Private sighs, turns off the light, and follows Rico carefully down the hall.

Private's only slightly nervous when Rico cracks open the door to the basement, because as much as he completely trusts Rico to have his back and save his life, he also knows that part of the reason Rico is trustworthy in those kinds of situations is because he's ethically questionable and concerningly unpredictable. 

The basement light is out, to Private's utter lack of surprise, and it's pitch black when the basement door shuts behind him. As he follows Rico down the stairs, his heart desperately tries to claw out of his chest and go back upstairs where he's not alone in the dark with a psychopath, thank you very much. 

'How Private Willingly Followed A Laughing Madman Into The Dark And Where We Eventually Found His Body' is the first story Skipper's going to tell Private's replacement.

Suddenly Rico's hands are on Private's shoulders and the ground snaps out from under him and Skipper's room is directly above him if only he could breathe long enough to scream and all he can think is _please, Rico - please don't make it hurt_ \---

\--- and then Private hits something soft and there are stars slowly moving on the ceiling and Rico is grinning at him in the faint moonlight creeping in from the tiny window above him. 

"I'm going to kill you, Rico," Private whimpers. "I swear to god, I am going to kill you if it's the last thing I ever do."

Rico flops down on the mattress next to him, and Private can feel him shrug as he says, "Eh, you' fine." 

Private's terror abruptly turns to fury. "Jesus! Fucking! Christ! Rico!" Private snarls, and drives his elbow into Rico's ribs as hard and as fast as he can. 

" 'uck! Ow! 'hit! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Rico hisses as he whips his arm around Private and pulls him so tightly against his chest that Private can't move.

" 'orry," he whispers. Rico's big, worried eyes are the only thing Private can see. "Din' mean 'care you."

Private has never been this close to Rico before, and he's never seen Rico truly frightened. The look on his face breaks Private's heart: as much as Rico is naturally intimidating, he's never once done anything to deliberately frighten Private. Of course he didn't scare Private on purpose. Rico didn't deserve that.

"It's okay," Private breathes, but Rico doesn't let go. "Everything just got - Skipper thinks I'm over it, but ... I - I'm afraid of the dark, Rico. I'm afraid of the dark, and you're terrifying in the dark," he laughs shakily, "and ... it's really okay. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I din' know. I'm 'orry."

"It's okay," Private whispers again, and impulsively rests his forehead against Rico's. Rico lets go, incrementally, until something in Private's face tells Rico that it really is okay, and he gives Private a warm smile. 

The darkness is sliced open by Rico's lighter, and Private watches, confused, as Rico lights a cigarette and takes a long, slow drag. 

Only, it's not a cigarette. 

"You dragged me down here and _scared me half to death_ just to get _stoned?_ "

"Uh. Yeah." Rico looks a little sheepish in the glow from the joint, but that doesn't stop him from throwing his leg over Private's knees and taking another long drag. Private is trapped between the basement wall and Rico's rock-solid body and he does not remotely know what the hell is going on any more. 

And then Private just laughs. After the rollercoaster the last fifteen minutes has been, he gives up and relaxes into the pillows. 

Led Zepplin's _Custard Pie_ starts playing in the darkness; not loud enough to travel upstairs, but warm and clear. Rico's played _Physical Graffiti_ often enough over the years that Private knows it by heart. That and _IV_.

"Good music," Private says, and puts his head on Rico's shoulder. 

Rico doesn't talk much, but Private knows him well enough that he doesn't really need to. They're close and warm and safe as they pass the joint back and forth in in their personal planetarium, and Rico's wordless vocalizations are a soft rumble beside him. Private can't imagine anywhere else he'd rather be. 

"Wanna try somethin'?" Rico rasps in his ear.

Private just looks at him with a slow smile, because it's Rico. Why not?

Rico kicks a leg up over him like he's mounting a horse, then settles his weight down on Private's thighs, and Private's breath catches in his throat. With the way Rico keeps himself tucked into corners and slouches all the time, Private forgets he's almost as tall as Kowalski and is built like an MMA fighter. Really. Private's watched Skipper and Rico spar, and it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen in his life. 

" 'rust me," Rico grins, and takes a slow drag as _Kashmir_ starts to play. 

Private only has a moment to wonder why he'd say that before Rico's leaning down with a sultry smile, his eyes completely black, and pulls Private's mouth open with his thumb. He has no time to to process what's happening before Rico's scarred lips are on his and Private's being kissed so thoroughly that he can't help the broken sounds that are clawing out of the back of his throat. 

When Rico starts exhaling into Private's mouth, Private doesn't fight it: he just breathes in without thinking, arching up hard against Rico's chest and clinging desperately to him with big, wide eyes. Private's starting to wonder if he's dying. (He never knew that this is exactly how he wanted to go.)

Rico lowers him back down slowly as Private exhales, trembling, the world exploding in his skull. He can't hold onto a single thought, just rides the body rush while Rico's reassuring weight keeps him from spinning into the stars. 

" 'hat was fun," Rico rasps, and his grin is devastating in the darkness. 

Private doesn't say a word. He's not sure he'll ever be able to speak again.


End file.
